A wag said to me last week - 'would you like to hear what I think about City Council ?' This was a reliable source. Listen in

News 100 blueBy Pepper Parr

June 8th, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

 

We have a city Council that is approaching the half way mark of the term. It has been a roller coaster of a ride so far. From firing the city manager on basically their first day on the job to having to deal with a totally different form of doing their jobs – locked down in the homes and doing everything via Zoom while the City Manager runs the city with in a way he didn’t think he would be doing when he signed on.

City Council meeting - before COVID

City Council meeting – before COVID

Five of the seven had absolutely no civic government experience; they were flying close to blind with nothing but their aspirations to guide them. Every one of the five have learned that this was not a simple gig. All have never worked harder in their lives. Some may decide this isn’t the business for them – and for some this isn’t the business for them.

There are people who live and breathe what goes on at city hall.  We refer to then as “local wags” people who have their ear to the ground.
One of them gave us their view at what we were getting from our politicians. These are the views of people other than Gazette staff.

And no – we are not going to identify the wag. This person has been a very useful source of information.

Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith – wants Aldershot to secede from the city so he can become Mayor of Aldershot. Could be – you never know.

Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns – wants to be Mayor at some future date. Don’t put any real money on that every happening.

Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan – wants to serve as the Mayors Lieutenant. Isn’t he already doing just that?

Ward 4 Shawna Stolte – not bad for a former social worker. Tough on the spending side.

Ward 5 Paul Sharman – the moment he thinks the Mayor is about to slip on a banana peel he will be at city hall filing nomination papers for the Office of Mayor.

Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna – he is better than the person he replaced but not by that much. Has serious difficulty fully understanding the issue in reports.

Mayor Meed Ward – she leads a council but that council doesn’t work as a team under this Mayor. And this is a Council that wants to be led in a collegial fashion.

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